Offensive lineman Doug Kramer hit free agency last week, but he will be staying with the Bears.
The Bears announced that Kramer re-signed with the team on Tuesday. It is a one-year contract for the Illinois native.
Kramer was a 2022 sixth-round pick in Chicago and he was with the team until being waived in November 2023. He was claimed by the Cardinals, but returned to Chicago later in the season.
Kramer played in two games in 2023 and he made 16 appearances in 2024. Many of those appearances came as an extra blocker and he was involved in two ignominious plays while lining up at fullback. He and Caleb Williams botched an exchange that led to a lost fumble in a Week Eight loss to the Commanders and he failed to report as eligible on a play that resulted in a touchdown in a loss to the Vikings later in the season.
Wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus spent the 2024 season playing with quarterback Jayden Daniels in Washington and he told reporters on Monday that “people knew early on” that Daniels was ready for life in the NFL.
Daniels kept rising throughout his rookie season and the Commanders made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game as a result. That was Zaccheaus’s final game for the team as he agreed to sign with the Bears this month.
Joining Chicago gives Zaccheaus a chance to play with the only player who was drafted ahead of Daniels in 2024. Caleb Williams didn’t make the same kind of immediate impact, but Zaccheaus is confident that the quarterback has all the necessary skills to reach the same level.
“The biggest thing I think is the mental aspect of it for any young quarterback, especially Caleb,” Zaccheaus said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “He has all the talent that you need to be a top-tier quarterback in the league, so a lot of it is just going to be the mental aspect of it. You know, kind of just slowing the game down.”
Zaccheaus may be able to help on that front, but head coach Ben Johnson will have the biggest role in boosting Williams’ play in his second season. If he can make that happen, Zaccheaus could make another appearance in the postseason.
Free agent running back Travis Homer is re-signing with the Bears on a one-year, $2 million deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
He re-joins a running back room that includes D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson.
Homer, 26, spent the past two seasons with the Bears. He played 26 games and had nine touches for 34 yards with eight special teams tackles.
Homer saw action on 81 offensive snaps and 419 on special teams the past two seasons.
He spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks after they made him a sixth-round pick in 2019.
In his career, Homer has 144 touches for 951 yards and three touchdowns with 39 special teams tackles.
The Bears are not done at wide receiver apparently.
After adding Olamide Zaccheaus in free agency, the Bears had receivers Rondale Moore and Mecole Hardman in town for free agent visits Monday, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports. Moore’s visit previously was reported.
It appeared Hardman was on his way out of Kansas City when the Chiefs re-signed JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Hardman left for the Jets in free agency a year ago before the Chiefs traded for him in the middle of the year. He played only six games with two starts and caught 14 passes for 118 yards with Kansas City.
He did not play in the postseason.
Hardman caught the game-winning touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII, delivering the Chiefs a 25-22 victory over the 49ers to end the 2023 season.
In his six NFL seasons, Hardman has appeared in 80 games with 28 starts, catching 178 passes for 2,302 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, widely viewed as the top running back in the 2025 NFL draft, could be heading to Chicago.
The betting odds have the Bears as the favorites to draft Jeanty, with the odds currently at +130 at DraftKings.
The Bears own the 10th overall pick in the draft, which in recent years has become higher than most teams are willing to take a running back. But new Bears head coach Ben Johnson comes from Detroit, where the Lions used the 12th overall pick on running back Jahmyr Gibbs in 2023. Gibbs proved to be a major weapon in Johnson’s offense in Detroit, and Johnson’s new team could be one that thinks a highly drafted running back is a good investment.
After the Bears, the betting odds have the Raiders as the next most likely team to draft Jeanty, at +150. They’re followed by the Cowboys at +550, the 49ers at +1100, the Saints at +1400 and the Broncos at +1600.
Free agent wide receiver Rondale Moore is meeting with another NFC North team.
Moore visited the Vikings last week and NFL Media reports that he is in Chicago to meet with the Bears on Monday.
Moore was traded from the Cardinals to the Falcons ahead of the 2024 season, but he suffered a knee injury that led to him missing the entire season. The 2021 second-round pick had 135 catches for 1,201 yards and three touchdowns in Arizona. He also ran 52 times for 249 yards and a score, and he saw time as a returner in his rookie season.
The Bears added wideout Olamide Zaccheaus as a free agent last week and have DJ Moore and Rome Odunze back from last season.
Cooper Kupp had a short stint in free agency. For plenty of other big-name receivers on the wrong side of 30, the wait continues.
Our list of top 100 free agents has three of them — Amari Cooper, Stefon Diggs, and Keenan Allen. Others still available include Brandin Cooks and Tyler Lockett.
There are plenty of pass-catchers without objectively big names (and not necessarily over 3o), too. That list includes the likes of Diontae Johnson, Robert Woods, Nelson Agholor, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyler Boyd, and Mecole Hardman.
The fact that so many receivers are available at this point is a sign that the position is becoming in some respects like running back. Every year, young, cheap, healthy, and productive options are available in the draft class.
It’s also likely that plenty of the names listed above (especially the biggest ones) need to have their expectations softened by the phone not ringing.
Really, has there been any buzz about Cooper or Diggs or Allen or Cooks or Lockett? And it’s not for lack of interest in veteran receivers; a lot of them have been signed this week.
Cupp, Davante Adams, and Chris Godwin are the biggest names to get significant deals this week. Others who landed fairly quick contracts include Darius Slayton, Josh Palmer, Dyami Brown, Demarcus Robinson, Mack Hollins, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Ashton Dulin, Mike Williams, Trent Sherfield, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Sterling Shepard, Tim Patrick, Braxton Berrios, Dante Pettis, and more.
Even DeAndre Hopkins has gotten signed. Yes, it was a one-year, $5 million deal. But he pounced on the opportunity when it emerged.
That might be the biggest reason why some of the biggest names at the position are still out there. They possibly have had interest, but the numbers might be much lower than they’d like.
The numbers likely won’t get much better. At this point, the risk is that there simply won’t be roster spots by the time they decide to take whatever they can get.
Free agent guard Teven Jenkins is set to be in Seattle for St. Patrick’s Day.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Jenkins is slated for a visit with the Seahawks on Monday. It’s the first reported visit for Jenkins since the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Jenkins was a 2021 Bears second-round pick and started 38 of the 45 games he played in Chicago. The Seahawks saw Laken Tomlinson depart for Houston in free agency, which opened up a spot that Jenkins could fill on their offensive line.
Jenkins is No. 69 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents and one of a dwindling number of unattached players in that group.
The Jets announced the signing of another defensive piece on Thursday.
Defensive tackle Byron Cowart is joining the team as a free agent. The team did not announce any terms of the deal.
Cowart has bounced around the league since entering the NFL as a 2019 fifth-round pick of the Patriots. He spent the 2024 season in Chicago and started seven of the 15 games he played for the Bears.
Cowart had 26 tackles, five tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and four quarterback hits in those appearances.
Quinnen Williams, Phidarian Mathis, and Leonard Taylor are currently the other defensive tackles on the team’s depth chart.
Free agent edge rusher Jacob Martin is signing with the Commanders on a one-year deal with a max value of $3 million, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Martin, 29, spent last season with the Bears. He appeared in 11 games, seeing action on 222 defensive snaps and 206 on special teams, and he totaled 15 tackles and three sacks.
Martin entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the Seahawks in 2018, and he was in Seattle for one season before joining the Texans. He also has played for the Jets, Broncos and Colts.
In seven seasons, Martin has recorded 100 tackles, 21 sacks, 38 quarterback hits, five passes defensed and seven forced fumbles.
